Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Chapter VIII.
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distrust which his first expedition inspired in Russia, he
was in an insecure and unfortunate position. But he
had reason to complain of other things. The gigantic
task assigned to him demanded a despotic will endowed
with dictatorial power. Bering lacked both, especially
the latter.
The Senate exhausted itself in minute hints,
directions, and propositions, instead of issuing definite orders
concerning the necessary means. Unfortunately, too,
numerous and exaggerated complaints had been made in
regard to the suffering which Bering’s first expedition
had caused the Kamchatkans, and on this account the
government was foolish enough to bind the chief’s hands,
while it simultaneously overloaded his shoulders.
Through injudicious instructions he was made dependent
upon his subordinates. It was bad enough that he was
not to be permitted to take any decisive steps in Siberia
without first consulting and coming to an agreement with
the local authorities,—the governor of Tobolsk, the
lieutenant-governor of Irkutsk, and the voivode of Yakutsk.
On account of the great distances and the wretched
roads such proceedings were well-nigh impossible. The
government should have known that these authorities
only under the most peremptory orders would
comply with demands liable to exhaust the resources of the
country and ruin the thinly-populated and
poverty-stricken districts. This was, indeed, bad enough, but
matters were much aggravated when the Senate ordered
him to take action in all important questions, only after
deliberation with his officers, and to refer every leading
measure to a commission. Such a method of procedure
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